Page 68 of The Black Flamingo

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Mum is sunbathing, reading

Itby Stephen King.

I watched the TV movie from the nineties

years ago

with Trevor.

He told me I was brave

because I wasn’t afraid

of any of the movies he showed me.

InItthere’s an evil clown

called Pennywise, who makes

children see their worst fear.

I lie back on the sand

and look up to the sky

and can no longer see the outlines

of Mum, Anna, or Daisy,

and I realize with all the knowing in the world

that my worst fear is

to be without my family

—that includes Daisy.

I crawl unnoticed behind

Mum’s sunbed and whisper

a line from the movie in her ear:

“We all float down here.”

Mum screams, then laughs

and hits me with her book.

Anna laughs, too, adding

another keep to our castle.

Mum brings me a magazine

from the beach shop:

a gay lifestyle magazine calledAttitude,

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